Digital Literacy Practices of Engineering Students Using E-Textbooks at a University of Technology in South Africa

South Africa’s higher education system, like many others, is presently experiencing a significant transition towards digital forms of teaching and learning. This transition precedes the advent of Covid-19 but has been hastened by the pandemic. However, these new technologies also bring with them new digital practices. A crucial means by which communication is enacted is by reading e-textbooks. However, e-textbooks may enable different forms of engaging with written text than are offered by traditional, print textbooks. Despite this need, only a few studies have been conducted on students’ use of e-textbooks in engineering education. In this study, data were collected by way of focus-group interviews conducted with first-year students from two engineering departments (chemical engineering and nautical science) at a university of technology in South Africa. The data were analyzed using thematic content analysis using ATLAS.ti. In order to analyze and contextualize the findings obtained, the researchers make use of a theoretical framework, Mediated Discourse Analysis (MDA). The findings provide insight into how students engage with e-textbooks and how this might be different from engaging with traditional, print textbooks. The findings also reveal the extent to which some new digital literacy reading practices remain unfamiliar to engineering students.